S. H Marpel

The Sum of the Whole is Greater Than Its Parts. So Gaia was taught since she came into this existence. But, she was named after the Nature goddess. Long centuries and eons passed while she was submerged in rock beneath the thin surface layers that living creatures inhabited. Now some imbalance had awakened her. She rose to the surface to claim her own, her rightful place in the whole world, not just beneath it. What she found surprised even an...

Gods and goddesses roamed the earth for millennia. Some hold that they still do. Two babes were born in the King's Forest, hunted by the King's soldiers and two Duke's armies. Life there was protected - and as pleasant as living among wild animals with only your father could be. For their mother died in childbirth, and became a spirit-guide for that forest, keeping the land, plants, and animals in balance. Meanwhile, she helped her mortal husband...

Rose still doesn't know why she, survived the accident and everyone else was dead. It was horrible. And, she hasn't been able to cry since. Even at the graveyard where she was now. And then, she looked over a few rows and saw a guy standing in front of a grave marker of his own. He looked too sad for someone that good looking. She came over to see if she could console him, help him somehow. His name was Tom, and he had the most amazing eyes she'd...

The result of all these civil wars was complete destruction. Maybe we should have taken a hint from all those wars we fought "over there" and the footage came back showing entire cities now only towering, shattered icons that stood in piles of rubble. Uninhabited. uninhabitable. Yet this one woman stayed there. This was her new home, she repeated stubbornly. She wasn't leaving. Even though it meant eventual death. If the warring armies didn't...

Fiction is stranger than Fact, but also father and mother to it. From the archives of the Ghost Hunters Library, here a classic tale of an amateur paranormal enthusiast who happens on a solution to nagging ghost infestations. This tale of his runaway success, the perils of being too effective, and exacting revenge against a greedy sanitarium owner for non-payment of services rendered. Exciting and humorous, sit back and enjoy this short tale of...

The more circuits in any machine, the more it's likely to get "haunted." When you connect it to the Internet then you can get more than you asked for. Installing a home system seemed obvious at the time. Having the "Internet of Things" to give you your every whim seemed a dream come true. When our broadband costs rocketed, we looked to see what usage was happening - too many videos, too many games, was someone parked at the curb outside our house...

The new shoes were paid for with time itself. Two women came this day, in search of an artisan to make them a pair of shoes from scratch. Not just repair some cheaply-made shoes, but to get a proper pair of hand-crafted, custom-fit, proper shoes. Price was no object. The shoemaker took the measurements of the younger lady's feet. "Two weeks." He quoted them. "And if we work as apprentices?" "Two years. No cost for the shoes as you will earn...

A collection of short stories from new voices - the cross-currents of mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and romance. Worlds new or perhaps re-visited - but only you will know if this is the stuff of dreams - or nightmares. Wolves that talk to nearly-extinct humans through their minds. Witches that not only represent the five elements, but also the five principles that can defeat all magic. Goddesses who have to work together to defeat a priestess...

I knew exactly why I was still here. To haunt whoever had pushed me overboard. My only problem was finding them. And, if they weren't still alive, they had relatives. Meanwhile, I kept amused by haunting the ship's passengers and crew. And, the cruise line didn't have a problem with it. Their "haunted cruises" were a big hit. Full capacity for this old boat and its evening dinner cruises out beyond the harbor. "Misstep Mary" they called me. Even...

The black SUV's roared around them to a stop, boxing them in.The only choice was to comply.It looked like there were about five government-style SUV's that surrounded the family's pickup truck and it's older camping trailer."I thought we were done with these guys, Rosa.""Must be a new department that didn't get the memo."Their boy, sitting between them on the pickup's bench seat, just closed his eyes.Time seemed to stop at that point. Three or four...